ee right over in front of us, in which she was located
when we first heard her angry snarls and spitting," his companion told
him. "But that's no sign at all the beast is anywhere near here now. For
all we know she may be ten or a dozen miles away."

"I hope so, anyhow," honest Toby hastily remarked; but he still
continued to cast nervous glances to the right and to the left as they
pushed slowly forward, keeping to the open line of the little ridge.

Several times something gave him a start. Now it was a rabbit that,
without warning, leaped from a clump of grass, and darted away with long
bounds. Then a bird flew up from a bush, and the sound of its wings made
Toby unconsciously remember the singular spitting noise which the
mottled cat with the ears that lay back on her head gave utterance to,
as she warned them to advance no further on penalty of being clawed.

But they were not attacked. The neighborhood just then seemed singularly
free from malignant four-footed enemies armed with sharp teeth and
nails. A dun-colored object just vanishing in a sink some little
distance away Toby identified as an extra large fox that had been
aroused from his noonday nap by the rustle of footsteps amidst the
foliage, or the murmur of their lowered voices. No one made any attempt
to interfere with the retreat of Reynard; indeed, they carried no weapon
that could have halted his flight, even though inclined that way, which
was far from being the case.

Remembering that when stopped on the previous occasion they had had
reason to believe they must be within a mile or so of the region from
whence those singular blasting noises proceeded, the two scouts from
that time on slowed down their pace and maintained a more vigilant watch
than ever, particularly keeping an eye ahead for any sign of enemies.

It was Toby, it chanced, who made a discovery.

"Stand still, Jack, and look through this vista ahead of us. Isn't that
a man I can see standing there, with a gun in his hand?"

"Just what it is, Toby, and from his actions I'd say he is some sort of
sentry or vidette, who is busy watching the open trail we've been
following for so long, as it seems to be a sort of woods thoroughfare,
possibly running to the bank of the river somewhere."

"That looks suspicious, doesn't it, Jack?"

"It looks as if they're up to some business that they do not want to be
discovered at," came the low reply. "I suppose that Mr. Dangerfield,
learning of ou